“A pool of blood, an abduction, swirling blizzards, a haunting mystery, yes, Wes Markin’s One Last Prayer for the Rays has all the makings of an absorbing thriller. I recommend that you give it a go.” –Bestselling Author Alan Gibbons

School should be the safest place in the world. Not this winter.

DCI Michael Yorke faces his most harrowing case yet.

When 12-year-old Paul disappears from school, Yorke’s only clue is a pool of animal blood. Fearing the worst, he turns toward the most obvious suspect, recently released local murderer, Thomas Ray.

But as the snow in Salisbury worsens, Ray’s mutilated body is discovered, and Yorke is left with no choice but to journey into the sinister heart of a demented family that has plagued the community for generations. Can he save the boy? Or will the evil he discovers change him forever?

One Last Prayer for the Rays, introducing DCI Michael Yorke.

What are readers saying about One Last Prayer for the Rays?

“WOW!! what a page turner. I stayed up waaaay later than I should have done to find out what was going to happen next. The characters were "real" but with not too much detail so it was boring and the storyline was gripping. I can't wait to find out what happens next with DCI Yorke!”

“Great twist and a lot of on the edge of your seat action. if you like a great who done it story then this is a must read.”

“I recommend this great page turner, original style and good in-depth research that all makes for a great read.”

So today I welcome Wes Markin to my blog with my review of One Last Prayer for the Rays. Be sure to check out the other bloggers today sharing their thoughts, Donna’s Book Blog and JBronderBookReviews

✮ My Review ✮

This book had me from the get-go, it was bloody intense way to start a book with the opening chapter. I mean it was ominous from the start, and then bam it’s go go go and it feels like you are on a rollercoaster that you don’t know if it is ever going to end.

Now I want to make one thing clear here, I do have quite a strong stomach when it comes to gore. I don’t like gore and the only thing that truly unsettles me is paranormal stuff or the scene in the Ring when she climbs out the tv and is all twitchy! So it does take a lot to unsettle me and turn my stomach. Well one particular scene in this book when the Rays are watching a video and the crazy man in the pig mask is acting out some awful violence to some pigs, truly did my stomach turn. I think it’s because I have a thing about pigs! The idea of a whole huge group of them terrifies me, a bit like In Hannibal with Mason Verger and his boar farm. Horrible!

This book has been marked as the first in the series for DCI Michael Yorke and this makes me so happy and really excited. The story itself is relentless and riveting. It’s dark and gruesome and violent and I was delighted, although do not panic I’m not about to turn into a mass murderer or anything !!! It was the type of book I needed after the boy has gone back away for another 3 months, I think if I read a light and fluffy book I would be in bits. So for the few hours, it took me to read this I was engrossed.

I had my theories to who kidnapped Paul and I can safely say I did not work it out and the what unravelled was even crazier then I could have imagined and it worked!

I love that it was set in Salisbury, having lived in
Tidworth for a few years I knew some of the areas that were mentioned in the
book which added a bit of a thrill for me!

I can safely say that Mr Markin has a new fan with me and I can not wait to see what happens next! Especially with an open-ended story as this one.

So don’t believe me, check out some of what has been said on the blog tour already

The twisted, visceral brutality of the violence means that One Last Prayer for the Rays isn’t a book for the squeamish but for those of us who like our crime thrillers to be gory, this well-plotted, gripping thriller is a fabulous introduction to the DCI Michael Yorke series – I can’t wait to read more!

One Last Prayer For The Rays is a dark and chilling read. There were lots of parts that are left to the imagination that shocked and horrified me but I so enjoyed them all. It’s hard to say to much without spoiling it for other readers but I loved the setting for some of the story as it really did make the hairs on my arms stand up. Can’t wait for more of DCI Michael Yorke and his team. A thoroughly entertaining and addictive read.

I like my crime novels to be bloody, and you cannot get much more bloody than when blood is plastered all over the walls of a school toilet. This is the starting point for One Last Prayer For The Rays, and it only escalates from here. I frequently gasped with shock at the barbaric crimes in this novel, so it may not be for the squeamish, but it kept me on my toes!

Until next time xxx

Foloow the rest of the tour here

Thank you so much to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the tour invite and the author for a copy of this book in return for my honest and unbiased review

About Wes Markin

Wes Markin is a hyperactive English teacher, who loves writing crime fiction with a twist of the macabre.

Having released One Last Prayer for the Rays he is now working on the second instalment of DCI Michael Yorke’s wild ride, The Repenting Serpent. He is also the author of Defined, a prequel to his DCI Yorke novels, which takes the reader back to his blood-soaked university days.

Born in 1978, Wes grew up in Manchester, UK. After graduating from Leeds University, he spent fifteen years as a teacher of English, and has taught in Thailand, Malaysia and China. Now as a teacher, writer, husband and father, he is currently living in Harrogate, UK.